ABSTRACT

The study was carried out to evaluate the effect of replacement of maize with graded dry cassava sieviette waste in broiler ration. A total of 150 day old Anak broilers were used for the experiment. The birds were randomly assigned to five (5) treatment diets in a Completely Randomized Design (CRD). The birds were fed diets containing varying levels of dry cassava sieviette to replace maize at 0%, 5%, 10%, 15% and 20%. Data were collected for growth parameters, carcass cut parts and internal organ proportions of broiler chickens. The result obtained showed that there were significant differences (P<0.05) for all the parameters considered under growth parameters except for the initial weight and feed conversion ratio (FCR). The final weight showed that birds fed diet 2 (1546.67g) and 4 (1450.00g) had higher (p<O.05) weight than other treatment diets. The average daily weight gain recorded showed that birds fed diet 2 (28.98g) and diet 4 (26.94g) were significantly (p<O.05) higher than birds fed diets 1, 3 and 5. For feed intake and average daily feed intake birds fed diet I and 2 were significantly (p<O.05) higher than other treatment diets. The least FCR value obtained by birds fed diet 2 (2.98) and diet 4 (3.03) showed that the diet was better utilized by the birds for weight gain than birds fed diet 1. There were significance differences (p<O.05) in all the parameters observed for cut parts except for dressing percentage, drumstick, thigh, wings and back cut. Birds fed diet 4 had a higher significant (p<O.05) value for live weight (1450.00g) and dressed weight (1016.67g) than the control diet (1300g and 900.00g). The result of the internal organs expressed as percentage of (ive weight showed that there were significant differences (P<0.05) observed in kidney, gizzard, heart, and liver except for intestine, proventiculus, spleen, and lungs. Birds fed diet 1 had a higher significant (p<O.05) value for heart (0.62%) and liver (2.0 1%) than others diets; diet 2 (0.54%; 1.95%), diet 3 (0.66%; 1.97%), diet 4 (0.44%; 1.78%) and diet 5 (0.45%; 2.12%). The study revealed that dry cassava sieviette is a good source of energy (2260.00kcal/kg) for broiler chickens. The higher weight gain recorded by birds fed 2 and 4 which were comparable to birds fed diets 3 and 5 but higher than birds fed control diet showed that cassava sieviette can successfully replace maize up to 20% in the diet of broiler chickens and can be accepted by the birds for better performance, resulting to a higher weight gain obtained by the birds. The result also showed that the treatment diets compared favourably with the control diets in the relative carcass cut parts and organ weights indicating that dry cassava sieviette can replace maize in the diets of broilers up to 20% without any deleterious effect on the relative organ weights and carcass cut parts of the birds.